Carol Ficklen, shown at her home in York County, has been making Christmas… (Sangjib Min, Daily Press )

December 14, 2009|By By Prue Salasky | 247-4784

Every ornament has a story. Hundreds of them — including more than 100 new ones made this year — adorn 10 trees in the Yorktown home of Carol and Carter Ficklen. For the past 45 years the couple has hosted a Christmas party for friends and family to share their decorations and Carol's craft know-how. This year, in addition to their traditional party, they're opening their home for a fundraising event, "O Christmas Tree," to benefit the Peninsula Fine Arts Center.

"I may have bitten off a bit more than I can chew," says Carol, who started making this year's crop of ornaments in August. "But Pfac is such a great place." She'll give away one-of-a-kind designs to everyone who attends the event. She has another stash of 40 hand-made miniature Christmas trees that can stand alone or serve as hanging decorations, which she hands out to friends and visitors.

We visited the Ficklens' home the day after Carol had finished making her last ornament and a couple of days before their Christmas party. She described how her ornament-making developed and how the decorated trees have become a repository of family history and a link to the future.

What skills are involved?

"You have to have steady hands. I've always been 'crafty.' I used not to consider myself an artist but I do now. You start with nothing and turn it into something. Wow!"

How do you decide on a design?

"All the trees have tiny white lights so I look for what's going to shine. I decide on the colors and put the pieces — small beads, sequins, pearls, small and large pins — in a muffin tin. I start with a satin ball and a piece of ribbon and wrap around it. Then I'll look at it the next day or two to see if I'm satisfied. Some are very simple and don't need anything else. I seem to be in a Sputnik era, they're all spiky," she muses about this year's creations. "I have a permanent callous in my thumb from sticking pins in."

Where do you get your supplies?

"I order most of them online. There's no more Heidi's, no more Paul's. I used to use materials from Lee Wards, a mail-order catalog, to make things for the St. Andrew's Episcopal Church Holiday House Bazaar." This year she rediscovered Lee Wards items on e-Bay and spent hours bidding on each one individually in order to recreate some of her early work. "It has come full circle," she says, showing the different shapes of the ornaments, such as a Styrofoam mouse.

How long does it take to make each ornament?

"The miniature Christmas trees took a total of about 5 hours each. It took me 2 1/2 hours just to put the green sequins on. ... I now know David Letterman's Top 10 — I never stayed up that late before. ... Christmas is how we give back to the people who smile with us and support us."

Where do you do your work?

"This is my craft corner," she says, indicating a comfortable chair in the corner of the den where she can look at a photo portrait of her and Carter and their four grandchildren. It's also close by her favorite tree, her first.

What's special about the first tree?

"I was 19 when we got married. We didn't have any money," says Carol, now 65, picking up a stitched felt ornament. "This was the first one I made. The angel on top is from our very first Christmas." The tree has an eclectic mix of ornaments made by their three grown children, memorabilia from schools and hobbies, a couple of cloth reindeer that were McDonald's giveaways, her grandson Will's teddy bears, and much more. "This picture is my son, Carter III, in kindergarten. He's 35 now, but he always moves it to the front. ... Now he's telling his daughter, Skylar, 4, and toddler son, Braxton, about them. This is the first ornament that Skylar made... If I could only have one tree, this would be it. This is the history of us."

What about the other trees?

"The small live cedar tree was sent by my nephew in St. Louis. The angel on the top is from my father's parents' tree. ... The 'snowman' tree is for my 12-year-old grandson in Maryland. It's Thomas' tree. ... Last year I learned to etch glass so I've made beveled glass bells with the names of everyone in the family on them, so there'll be a memory for each. ... The one in the living room is very Victorian. It took a year to make the ornaments [starched lace, ribbons, cross stitch, crochet and needlepoint]. When we raised our three children in a 1,300 square-foot home, we had a miniature Victorian tree. I always dreamed of having the space. This was our first tree in this house. ... The one on the landing was a mother-daughter effort.